


In Some Way I'm There With You

by Nevanna



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Episode: s03e10 Legion of Super-Heroes, Episode: s04e19 American Dreamer, Mind Palace, Missing Scene, Multi, Season/Series 03, Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-07
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-08-11 14:40:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20155243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nevanna/pseuds/Nevanna
Summary: Although they're no longer on the same planet, Kara, James, and Winn find peace in ordinary memories of each other.





	In Some Way I'm There With You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ellerkay](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellerkay/gifts).

> The title is from "Heartlines" by Florence and the Machine.

When Brainiac 5 entered Supergirl’s unconscious mind, he found more than one surface decorated with photographic representations of her family and friends. Some images depicted Kara and her sister from pre-adolescence to the present, and Brainy recognized J’onn J’onzz and Lena Luthor in others. “By the thirty-first century,” he said, “holographic technology will serve a similar purpose for humans and other beings… at least, those who have capacity for emotion or sentiment.”

She stopped looking for hidden exits long enough to say, “You make that sound like a bad thing.”

“The rest of my lineage would regard it as exactly that.”

In still another photograph, Kara was seated at a table with Winn Schott and James Olsen, with one corner of a bar in the background. Kara’s fingers brushed James’ wrist, his other hand rested on Winn’s shoulder, and all three faces displayed delighted smiles.

“I didn’t even notice Alex taking that picture,” Kara says later, long after they’ve found their way back to the corporeal world. “I guess she wouldn’t be much of a secret agent if she didn’t know how to be sneaky. I think James held onto a copy, too.”

“The three of you seemed very fond of each other,” Brainy remarks. 

“We still are.”

“I am glad.” It does not require a twelfth-level intellect to infer that, no matter what the future promised him, Winn was reluctant to leave the other two behind.

\--

“Are sure about this?” Kara asks. “I know what it’s like to get lost in happy memories… like, literally _lost_. What if he never comes back to reality?”

“With all due respect,” Brainy says, re-applying the linkage mechanism to James’ forehead, “no matter how much you care for him, you are not a trained psychologist. Both his therapist and his sister are confident that this form of treatment will-”

“Guys, I’m sitting right here,” James protests.

“I understand,” Kelly Olsen cuts in. She gives Kara a tiny smile. “We all have our ghosts to wrestle with, don't we?” It was she who suggested that James try to build spaces inside his mind palace where he feels safe, spaces that might be a source of strength and peace if his post-traumatic symptoms resurface. “You won’t be alone in there,” she reminds him.

James squeezes Kara’s hand. “And if you’re out here waiting for me, I don’t think I have anything to worry about.” He nods to Brainy. “Ready when you are.”

They begin with a memory of Kara’s loft, a setting with which Brainy has long since become exceedingly familiar. “I mean, have you seen the hors d’oeuvres they serve at those things?” her past self was saying. “Monsters from outer space couldn’t keep me away. Actually,” she added, “I’d better bring the suit, just in case.”

“Yeah, Clark used to bring his to _Daily Planet_ parties,” James recalled. “I don’t think Lois ever forgave the Intergang for interrupting their first dance.”

“We’ll just have to get ours in early, then.” Kara rose from the couch and extended her hand. James closed his laptop and joined her, ending their circuit around the room by twirling her under his arm. She fell back into his arms, laughing.

“Looks like the Ninth Doctor was right about humans seeking out new life and dancing,” Winn said.

“Oh, I think we sought each other out.” Kara turned to him, still grinning. “All three of us.” She held out her other hand. “You want in?” 

When his friend returns to the present, Brainy observes the incongruous combination of tears in James’ eyes and a smile upon his lips. He laces his fingers with Kara’s and says quietly, “I remembered that day, just after we got the invitations to the spring charity fundraiser.”

She nods. “When I first realized how much I…”

“Me, too.” James kisses her knuckles and closes his eyes. “Winn would hate this.”

Brainy tries to calculate the possible interpretations of “this”: the likelihood that it means “nationwide martial law and hostility against aliens,” or “Lex Luthor’s most recent attempt on my life,” or…

“He’d help us fight back,” Kara replies. “And he’d probably think your super-powers were pretty cool.”

James sighs. “I hope he wouldn’t be the only one.”

Brainy is becoming more adept at extrapolating meaning from human interactions, and he understands that the two of them are sharing a moment that excludes both Kelly and himself. Perhaps Kelly has arrived at a similar conclusion, because she steps forward and says, “I know I spent a lot of time wishing you were invulnerable. I don’t think any of us wanted it to happen like this. I think that wherever Winn is, he’d be proud of you both.” She touches her brother’s shoulder. “Whether you can leap over tall buildings or not.”

“And, for now, your other friends will remain by your side,” Brainy adds. He has long since stopped regarding such loyalty as weakness. “Shall we move on?”

\--

Brainy never had any reason to visit Winn’s mind, but he can hypothesize that it is pleasantly well-organized, if occasionally clouded by self-doubt and constantly populated with somewhat mystifying cultural references. (When Nia introduced Brainy to _Doctor Who_, promising that he would either love the adventures through time and space or be enraged at the inaccuracies, he learned what Winn meant by “seeking out new life and dancing,” and momentarily startled his girlfriend by exclaiming, “I’ve heard that before!”)

Now that he understands what the three of them meant to each other, he would not be surprised to learn that Winn’s most peaceful memory likewise involved an ordinary day with James and Kara, beginning with the gray dawn breaking over National City through the falling snow, and – even before that – the remembered warmth of the bodies curled around his. James’ arm was secure around Winn’s shoulders, and Kara’s head was tucked into the crook of his neck, the three of them twined together as if nothing in the whole of time or space could break them apart.


End file.
